Sensors 2015, 15(6), 13012-13027; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150613012
Design and Development of nEMoS, an All-in-One, Low-Cost, Web-Connected and 3D-Printed Device for Environmental Analysis
Construction Technologies Institute, National Research Council of Italy (ITC-CNR), Via Lombardia, 49, 20098 San Giuliano Milanese (MI), Italy
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Received: 23 April 2015 / Revised: 29 May 2015 / Accepted: 29 May 2015 / Published: 4 June 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and Smart Cities)
Abstract
The Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) refers to the quality of the environment in relation to the health and well-being of the occupants. It is a holistic concept, which considers several categories, each related to a specific environmental parameter. This article describes a low-cost and open-source hardware architecture able to detect the indoor variables necessary for the IEQ calculation as an alternative to the traditional hardware used for this purpose. The system consists of some sensors and an Arduino board. One of the key strengths of Arduino is the possibility it affords of loading the script into the board’s memory and letting it run without interfacing with computers, thus granting complete independence, portability and accuracy. Recent works have demonstrated that the cost of scientific equipment can be reduced by applying open-source principles to their design using a combination of the Arduino platform and a 3D printer. The evolution of the 3D printer has provided a new means of open design capable of accelerating self-directed development. The proposed nano Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) instrument is shown to have good reliability and it provides the foundation for a more critical approach to the use of professional sensors as well as for conceiving new scenarios and potential applications. View Full-TextKeywords:
indoor air quality; thermal comfort; Arduino; App Inventor; Internet of Things; Indoor Environmental Quality; environmental monitoring system
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